Donald Trump

Syria Signals It Will Sign Paris Climate Deal, Leaving US Alone

A French diplomatic official said the countries whose heads of state are being invited are those who are "especially committed" to applying the Paris accord

Syria plans to join the Paris climate accord, an official from the war-ravaged country said Tuesday, a move that leaves the United States as the only United Nations member state not supporting the agreement.

While the United States ratified the 2015 Paris Agreement last year, President Donald Trump announced in June that he wants to pull out unless the U.S. can get a better deal.

Syria was the last U.N. member state not to have signed the accord after Nicaragua did so last month. Not all signatories have ratified the treaty yet.

If the Trump administration follows through with its threat, the U.S. withdrawal would take effect in November 2020.

In an address to delegates at a global climate meeting in Bonn, Germany, Syria's deputy minister of local administration and environment, M. Wadah Katmawi, said his country would join the Paris deal "as soon as possible."

Katmawi said Syria will seek foreign aid to help it meet its commitments under the climate accord, which aims to limit global warming to under 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F).

"Nations that are entering the phase of post-war recovery — as my nation has seen a war that was oppressive upon it — should be given the priority in reconstruction and reorganizing the environment and climate," he said.

The government of Syrian President Bashar Assad has been criticized by much of the international community for alleged war crimes committed by government forces since the conflict began in 2011.

Additionally, French authorities said President Donald Trump is not among more than 100 world leaders invited to Paris for a climate summit next month.

French President Emmanuel Macron plans a summit to push his "Make our Planet Great Again" agenda on Dec. 12, the anniversary of the 2015 Paris climate accord.

The summit aims at promoting green projects and providing new funding sources, a few weeks after separate talks that are currently being held at a global climate conference in Bonn, Germany.

A French diplomatic official said the countries whose heads of state are being invited are those who are "especially committed" to applying the Paris accord.

An invitation will soon be sent to invite the United States "at a diplomatic level," the official said. He was spoke on customary condition of anonymity.

Officially called the "One Planet Summit" in English, the event is also when Macron is going to announce the winners of his offer of a generous fellowship to U.S. climate scientists who come to do their research in France.

In June, Trump said that the U.S. would pull out of the 2015 Paris accord unless he can secure a better deal.

The same day, Macron said "wherever we live, whoever we are, we all share the same responsibility: make our planet great again" and called on U.S.-based scientists to come to France to work on climate-related issues, in an unprecedented English-language speech from the French presidential palace.

French organizers are expecting about 2,000 participants, including non-governmental organizations, foundations, banks, startups, local governments, city mayors and others.

France co-organizes the summit with the United Nations and the World Bank.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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